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Israel Blasts Switzerland for Acceding to Palestinians with Geneva Convention Meeting

(Ha'aretz) Barak Ravid - Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon lashed out at the Swiss government on Thursday over its decision to convene a meeting of signatory states to the Geneva Conventions on Dec. 17 and said Israel will boycott the meeting, which is expected to condemn Israel for its construction in the West Bank. Nachshon noted that as the depositary of the Geneva Conventions, Switzerland is obligated to act in a neutral, apolitical manner. "Israel views the Swiss government's decision to accede to Palestinian demands to convene a meeting of signatories to the Geneva Conventions very gravely," Nachshon said. "Via this decision, Switzerland is lending a hand to the politicization of the conventions and the laws of war in general. Convening the signatory states is a political move whose only purpose is to exploit the important platform of the Geneva Conventions for attacking Israel." In the more than 60 years since the Geneva Conventions were drafted, only two meetings of the signatories have ever been convened - and both dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "They're convening a meeting like this at a time when many other conflicts are being waged throughout the world, including in theaters where atrocities are taking place right now....Israel urges every country that cares about the Geneva Conventions and the proper conduct of the depositary not to participate in this conference."
2014-12-12 00:00:00
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